1.7.2-Pilferingapples
Brick!club Les Miserables 1.7.2 Astuteness of Master Scaufflaire In Which Valjean Does Not Take Hints Excuse me while I take a moment to revel in the nigh-Dickensian sound of Master Scaufflaire’s name. I kind of love Scaufflaire, too. He’s doing everything he can to say “Mayor, this will not work, your travel plans are dumb and you should feel dumb” without actually laughing in the mayor’s face. Though he actually does do that too, at the end. Good guy, Scaufflaire. Being as honest as he can without outright chasing away the customer with a stick. You should maybe listen to him, Valjean. …Actually in the I-can’t-believe-I-Haven’t-Thought-About-This-Before camp, is there really any reason Valjean HAS to make the trial? Yes, he wants to see Champmathieu and confess maybe, but surely he could do that if he shows up late? Like, even at the prison? Or would the court system, having reached a verdict, just go “Naaaaah”and refuse to believe him? …And we’re being introduced to a horse, at least in theory. Betting pool on how long until it breaks one or more legs and dies in a metaphorical and dramatic condition? Commentary Gascon-en-exile I’m afraid that given the lateness of the hour and the content of this chapter I’ve little to say, only that the “business casual” attitude of Scaufflaire seems to correspond to a general method of characterizing the people of the Low Countries (so the Dutch and the Flemish mostly). They’re like less stuffy English people, from what I gather. Also, if earlier writers like De Laclos are to be believed French spoken in a Dutch/Flemish accent is nightmarishly awful to hear. Personally I’d say the Cajun accent provides more ready occasion for ear rape, but that’s just me. Ethnocentric stereotyping aside, this chapter only really stands out for me as one of the many cases in which Valjean can magically produce any needed amount of money at a moment’s notice. Scaufflaire even wanted to pull a Thénardier and enlarge the bill, though it sounds as though in this case it might have been warranted. Pilferingapples (reply to Gascon-en-exile) I am fascinated to learn about new and exciting ethnic stereotypes! Or, I guess, old and exciting ones! Especially when I can sort of understand the contemporary origins (I know A Thing or some about Dutch business stuff, basically)! OH BOY THE JERKNESS OF TIMES PAST IT IS FASCINATING, and I would never have noticed if not for you meddling commenters and your dog! I really thought Scaufflaire was being quite fair dealing with Madeleine here; the Mayor’s not a guy to just tell off, but a journey like that WILL put the horse at risk and probably won’t be possible even so. He’s all but shouting THIS WON’T WORK with those prices; he can’t be expected to know about Madejean’s enchanted wallet o’cash. (Also, colorful imagery it is, but on your own blog be your word choices……..) Kalevala-sage Back in time for 1.7.2 as promised, close call though it might be—for the record, if one ever needs to disparage my blog, please remind me of the time, i.e. in that update, when I used the word “now” thrice in two sentences (and people liked it; y’all ought to be ashamed of yourselves). I know the heteroship side of the fandom likes Madeleine!Valjean and Fantine; these chapters make a fairly good case as to why (though Madeleine’s UST with Javert is also textually evident—why the hell are we still shipping background-character barricade boys?), what with Madeleine’s boyish door-knock antics and his meandering deliberately away from the presbytery “''comme si porte avait été pour lui une tentation''.” Meanwhile, Scaufflaire is pretty perspicacious indeed (oh, the chapter title has “''perspicacité''" in French where this post has "astuteness"), what with his route predictions, though one wonders whether that kind of behaviour ought to relegate him to the gossips…great double standards, Hugo. Lightwise, the caissier's observations regarding Madeleine's window and the shadows therein are fair enough, though if I may be permitted a moment of French language geekery I'd note that “''réverbération''" can be used to invoke any of the senses, unlike its English mot-ennemi "reverberation," which corresponds more nearly to the exclusively-auditory "resonance." So it’s a réverbération the accountant sees on the opposite wall, though it be an illumination, and Hugo takes care to make us notice the word, repeating it thrice and never considering alternatives (“shadow” is used but once; “drawing” a couple more times)—almost as if to skirt a horror-movie-mystery atmosphere or establish a dissimilarity to Valjean’s last midnight perambulations, perhaps. But we all know I just like to hear myself talk about light, so I’m probably just overanalyzing. Pilferingapples (reply to Kalevala-sage) KS, it’s HUGO- I don’t think it’s POSSIBLE to overanalyze the lighting imagery. And the rèverbèration thing is an interesting word to insist on—I like the physicality there! (and Do Not Ask Me about Shipping Issues, I think we have all established that I am the opposite of someone who understands about shipping. I AM really familiar with diseases of the lung, though, and in general will say that advanced pneumonia/ tuberculosis/bronchial infections do not leave a person at their most smashing— but this is Les Mis, where suffering = beauty, so maybe Fantine is just otherworldily glowing gorgeous right now?) Maedhrys (reply to Pilferingapples' reply) Totally irrelevant to this discussion, but apparently I Am From HugoVerse or something, because a few of the pictures of me that I like the best were randomly taken when I was in bed having had pneumonia for about a month and still solidly in the middle of it? There is definitely some gentle radiance there. (Also cats. Which is why the pictures.)